Two third-year Environmental Management and Technology students won Schneider Electric's Go Green in the City 2014 international case study competition, which drew interest from over 12,000 students and participants from nearly 160 countries. 

 

EnerBy duo Keith Jin Deng Chan and Jasmine Man Ki Lee, Division of Environment, beat 11 other teams from around the world in the grand finale in Paris to take the top spot. The pair's winning proposal for an energy solution for cities was to create a mobile application for people to efficiently monitor, analyze and manage their energy consumption. More than 800 two-person teams from over 460 universities worldwide submitted entries.

 

The final was held over four days in Summer 2014, with contestants taking part in business workshops, networking, and having the opportunity to meet Schneider Electric staff in their working environment as well as give final presentations of their energy-efficient ideas. Schneider Electric is a global specialist in energy management.

 

In Keith and Jasmine's "Electricity Foresight Program", smart plugs enable smart metering through a mobile application, helping to raise awareness on the amount of energy that users are consuming and encourage them to adapt behavior. The two students were assisted in the development of the concept by mentoring through regular Skype sessions from Schneider Electric.

 

"The competition offered us a platform to share our ideas with the world, especially professionals in the energy field," said Jasmine. "I also learnt how to strike a balance between innovation and feasibility. In the beginning, our idea was 'too innovative'. We were assigned a mentor from Schneider Electric and he advised us to consider the feasibility of our idea. After that, we refined the concept using the multi-disciplinary knowledge we had acquired in our environmental management and technology studies."

 

She added that the pair had not expected to win, given the global scale of the competition and large number of applicants, but hopes that their story will inspire other HKUST students to participate in such contests. 

 

Since graduation, Keith has enrolled in an Advanced Diploma in Economics at the University of Cambridge. Jasmine has joined Schneider Electric as a management trainee and is based in Shanghai on a one-year assignment at the company's R&D Center.